Can you all say INDIANA!!!!!!!!
INDIANA!!!!!!
Conference in Indiana!!!!!!!!
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Can you all say INDIANA!!!!!!!!
INDIANA!!!!!!
Conference in Indiana!!!!!!!!
I vote for Texas!!!!! jejeje
I voted for Boston !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I vote for west coast....it was on the east coast last year!! Let's change it up a bit.
Well it's a toss up between TX and CA.... we have no CA help setting it up so far. Anyone near San Francisco willing to help set it up if we have it there? If we have it in Texas, where?
texas, texas!!!
The major children's hospital is Texas Children's in Houston, but Houston itself is, in my opinion, a bit of a mess for visitors, especially in light of Ike. I know absolutely nothing about Dallas/Fort Worth (it's an eight hour drive away from me). San Antonio (Santa Rosa is their kids' hospital) is okay, I've heard Austin is nice too.
I live outside Corpus Christi. We have an amazing hospital here and I know tons of people so I'm sure I could drag some nurses and RTs over for help with whatever we need. It's on the coast so there's a nice walking area on the water downtown, the northern tip of Padre Island is 20 minutes drive away if anyone wanted to check out the beach, and there's fun stuff to do like the aquarium or the USS Lexington.
We also have an airport in town (and it's adorable, no chance of getting lost here!), and best of all...ME! =D
Dawn please feel free to call me if you need anything, I'm pretty shameless in promoting Corpus but I'll help out wherever you decide. 361-288-4698.
Also, one of my best buds at our hospital and two of Michael's surgeons are the co-directors of the ECMO program, I can almost certainly get at least one of them to speak if it's in CC.
I'm not above bribery.
;-)
I'd be happy to help with whatever I can do from the East coast!
Well everyone it looks as though 2009 will be in Texas (city undecided) and 2010 will be in San Francisco!
So now we need to decide on where in Texas and we need volunteers and help planning and finding sponsors and pulling it off!
The doctors have suggested San Antonio, saying it's more family-friendly and has more attractions. It's also a lot better weather wise in July than say Dallas or Houston or Austin. And since it's a conference town we'll get better deals. What do you Texans think?
yep yep... san antonio sounds great!!!
jeje (my city is too small and boring)
Im excited!! Do you have any dates in mind Dawn?
Sometime in July, no date set yet. Will probably depend on the best rate we can get for a conference room.
I vote for anytime other than the first weekend :) I have a weekend long country concert then and Tim McGraw is going, I cannot wait!!!
LOL, Kim. Because of the 4th of July holiday here that's not an option for us anyway so you're safe on that weekend! :)
YAY, that makes me even more excited!!
Well, like I said, I know little to nothing about San Antonio other than the river walk, but I can try and help out. Let me know what you need.
Did you look at Corpus Christi at all? I guarantee it's less expensive than SA and it's smaller, which can be nicer for people traveling here. I'm being pushy, I'll admit, but I know I can deliver a lot of support from this town and I don't have any contacts in SA, medical or personal.
Mel, we're open to different towns. :) Let's pull together and see what each place offers. Here is what we go by in selecting towns:
- CDH hospital (in case one of the cherubs get sick)
- Airport
- Tourist attractions, especially for kids (which we sorely lacked in Raleigh... won't make that mistake again!)
- A good deal on a hotel conference room
- Affordable hotel rooms (families have to pay for their own rooms)
- Non-smoking rooms (cherubs lungs are delicate - they can have smoking rooms, just far away from the cherubs please)
- Decent weather (we can't deal with 100 degree weather for some of these kids who aren't used to it)
I will admit this past conference I did not do such a hot job with the hotel! I swear when I booked them last spring they were not under construction, the pool was fine, they were much more accommodating! By summer it all went down hill and we were very disappointed. We will be much careful with the hotel for next year.
The weather and the attractions are appealing for San Antonio and Dr. Lally gave us 3 hospitals there capable of dealing with CDH kids. So that's why I was liking that town. But we are open to different towns!
Let's just decide by the beginning of the year at the latest - we have a lot of work to do! :)
Fair enough.
I'll grant that the tourist stuff is better in SA (they have seaworld and all that), but as I mentioned we do have the Texas State Aquarium, beaches and a nice bay front (they rent out neat family size bikes and stuff and it's not so big that it's unmanageable for little kids). We also have a baseball team (I'm really not into sports, I think they're AAA? I could find out) if people were interested in that.
We have an international airport and an awesome hospital (where Michael lived for almost his first year), and I'm very well acquainted with all six of the critical care specialists that run it, preparing them for possible cherub guests would be no problem.
All of Corpus Christi's restaurants are non-smoking and I would be happy to look into the hotels if you'd like. As far as weather, anywhere in Texas in July is going to be hot. =) CC is about the same as SA, just windier.
I'm happy to help, wherever you choose. Let me know what you need. I could take pictures of a few spots and make some calls to get ideas on pricing, if you want.
I was bummed it was not in CA, but we will have to see what goes on in July to go to Texas. If you are going to have it in Texas, I think you should have it in a location that some members are familiar with and can help plan. I think if Mel is willing to pitch in a lot of hard work, Corpus Christi could be awesome!! I got on a Corpus Christi website and the aquarium, the USS Lexington, and the beach sounds great and good activities for the kids. My boys love aquariums and would love to see a beach!! Like Mel said, they have a great hospital, for look how well Michael is doing!! How far is San Antonio from you Mel?
I do have to ask--when is hurricane season it Texas? I am totally afraid of being caught in a natural disaster.
Thanks Tracy, your check is in the mail =P
Kidding.
SA is about two hours drive north of here, Houston is about four hours away.
Oh there's also an adorable zoo in Victoria (about an hour away) that I took Michael to recently. Very small, very doable for small kids but bigger kids would get bored.
Hurricane season is from June until November (or whenever we get a cold front). They are serious business, but we're very paranoid on the Gulf Coast and they start tracking them when they're barely a blip in the Caribbean. It's difficult to pinpoint *exactly* where one is going to make landfall, but there's plenty of warning. We were preparing for Ike for about eight days before it hit, for example. Granted that one moved a little slow and it blew north (for me), but they don't sneak up on people like they used to.
The beaches rock on North Padre Island, you can drive right to the water. It's fabulous for lazy people like me. Makes barbecuing on the beach simple!
I don't mind where in Texas it is but I do know (from my Aussie experience) that it is so much easier to organise when you have local people do all the leg work :-)
Julian (hubby) and I are very excited now that we know where it is and what month. We have our road atlas out and working out our trip. We have already talked about driving down to Mexico for a day. We have both always wanted to experience Mexico. Not sure if there are any safety issues in the towns we would have a look at or not but I will get all that info as the time draw nears.
Ethan (12 yr old mad on basketball) is already telling us what presents he wants us to bring back (mostly around basketball gear, lol).
Hopefully all hurricanes will stay away :-)
Looking forward to more info as decision are made and it becomes available. Hate to sound like I am pressuring and I understand I will have to be patient, but as soon as we know dates Jul and I can look out for flight specials and jump on them. I feel like if we get the tickets we will be 95% sure of coming over. Fingers crossed everyone that we get there!!!
I am feeling REALLY EXCITING by this. Am going to go check out the web for info on SA and CC :-)
Awesome, Danielle!
I've only driven to Mexico once (it's about three hours south of me), and I made it back in one piece =). Safety issues would probably depend on where exactly you wanted to go, I'm sure Fer can jump in there.
Anyways, as we get closer and decide where exactly this is happening, I can ask around and get you some more info.
Wow! Texas sounds fun. I was hoping for San Fran but we'll start planning for Texas!
I will be there one way or another! Probably solo though, can't afford a family trip. So whos going to be my bunk mate :) Barb?!
I will if I get to go Corin! 8-)
Corin we should fly together how long you planning to stay. Soones we get all the info we should get together to plan this. Im praying for better year.
Sounds good Jen! That would be great to fly out together, I hate flying alone!
Steve and I were thinking of going. I hope we can afford it. I don't think we can afford to fly, Corin, would you definitely be flying? If you don't we should meet up in a state on your way through PA. I know it is going to be a day and a half trip, but it should be fun. It just may be our vaca for the summer. Where exactly are we thinking about? Near a beach anywhere?? I loveee beaches!
I'm looking over the Corpus Christi link you sent, Mel. Also looking at the San Antonio stuff too. And the thought has been rolled around about a western style dude ranch or something to that effect. Lots of ideas to sort through, lots of things to consider. I know for many it will be their first time to the Old West so they want to experience that. Biggest worries are the heat and being near a good hospital. Liking things in several towns but sure would be a ton easier in Corpus Cristi with Mel there. We'll go through it all and decide as soon as possible.
Anyone have a bus we could start off in the Northeast and drive around and pick up everyone? We could plaster CDH awareness stuff all over it. :) Oddly enough, I used to have a big blue bus but the ex got that in the divorce (it was his band's bus). Wish I still had it, it would be great for this. ;)
I just looked at how long it would take to drive... 32 hours!!!! Wow, thats a loooong drive!
Heh...Corpus is not Old West at all. At all. Honestly if you're wanting a Dude Ranch experience, July is not the time of year to do this. The heat on a ranch will absolutely be too much for the kids (and the rest of us), and the ranches will be fairly distant (20 miles or more) from the nearest hospital.
There's a place here (Mustang Island) where you can ride horses on the beach, but I hear mixed reviews so I'd have to go take a look at it in person before I could really vouch for it.
Dawn ....
My dad has a HORSE TRAILER he keeps nice and clean we can all load into LOL!
How many people can we stuff into Shane and Steph's RV?
lol Penny! That would be interesting.... :)
Mel, can you send an e-mail to all the TX members to see who has connections where? If any of them work for a hotel, restaurant, etc? And how many will volunteer to help?
Will do.
Thank you! :)
OH YES !!
that would be funny !
imagine that !
We can sleep 8 in our RV!!!!
We can seat 10.
Wouldn't that be funny to have a caravan of RV's driving down the road.
I may have to come solo also.
I am in on sharing rooms--to help save on the money aspect!!!
Anyway we can all help eachother--is GREAT with me!!!
July in Texas!!!! HOT...HOT....but looking forward to the Conference!!!!!!!